CHAPTER DISCUSSION: PS/SS 12, The Mirror of Erised

[Janelle]

No: HPFGUIDX 188447

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CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Philosopher's Stone,
Chapter Twelve, The Mirror of Erised

The action of the story skips ahead to mid-December and the kids are all getting excited about their holiday break;  Harry and Ron sign up to stay at Hogwarts.  Draco resumes insulting Harry and Ron about their families, while Harry, Ron and Hermione start spending all of their free time in the library, trying to find out who Nicholas Flamel is.
On Christmas morning Harry wakes up to a pile of gifts that he did not expect.  He opens a flute from Hagrid, a 50-pence piece from the Dursleys, A Weasley Sweater from Mrs. Weasley, a box of chocolate frogs from Hermione, and an Invisibility Cloak accompanied by a mysterious note that reads: Your father left this in my possession before he died.  It is time it was returned to you.  Use it well.  A Very Merry Christmas to you.
Later, Harry and the Weasleys go down for Christmas dinner in the Great Hall, have a snow ball fight, and spend the evening by the Gryffindor fire.  Finally, after getting into bed, Harry is free to think about his Invisibility Cloak: where it had come from, and what he could do with it.  Harry sneaks down to the Restricted Section of the library to see if he can find anything out about Nicholas Flamel.  After opening a screaming book, attracting the attention of Filch and Snape, Harry runs for it and hides in an empty classroom.  In that room Harry finds the Mirror of Erised.  In it he sees himself surrounded by at least ten people.  He realizes that the two closest to him are his parents.  
The next day Harry brings Ron to see the mirror.  Instead of seeing his family, as Harry expected, Ron sees himself: alone, older, Head Boy and Quidditch captain.  Harry returns to the classroom with the Mirror the next night and this time he meets Dumbledore.  Dumbledore tells Harry that the mirror shows us the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts and that men have wasted away in front of it.  He says that the mirror will be moved and asks Harry not to go looking for it.  Harry asks Dumbledore what he sees in the mirror and Dumbledore responds that he sees himself holding a thick pair of woolen socks.  Harry later wonders if Dumbledore had been telling the truth.
Discussion Questions:
1.       Who did you think the Invisibility Cloak was from?
2.       Filch says that Snape asked him to inform him if anyone was prowling the corridors at night- what did you think of this the first time you read it?  Who did you think that Snape might suspect would be out of bed?
3.       Dumbledore says later that he didn't get the idea to use the Mirror of Erised to hide the stone until after Harry's encounter with it- so why was it in the school or in that classroom to begin with?  What do you think is the origin of the Mirror?
4.       Harry sees at least ten members of his family in the mirror.  Two are his parents, and we can assume that four are his grandparents.  Who do you think the remaining four-plus people are, and what happened to them?  How could such a large family all die so young in the wizarding world, leaving Harry alone?
5.       Did you expect Ron to grow up to be Head Boy and Quidditch Captain?  Do you think he might have if events had unfolded differently and Voldemort hadn't returned?
6.       How did Dumbledore know that Harry had found the mirror and what Harry and Ron had seen in it?  What do you think are his ways of becoming invisible without a cloak?
7.       Did you believe Dumbledore when he said he saw himself holding socks in the mirror?  What were your theories on what he might have seen?
8.       What would you see if you looked into the Mirror of Erised?
9.       Just for fun, what do you imagine are some of the ways of getting Draco expelled that Harry and Ron dreamed up by the Gryffindor fire?

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Next Chapter Discussion, Chapter 13, Nicholas Flamel, on November 24, 2009.

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